The LTO Program technology provider companies HP, IBM and Quantum announced
that the adoption rate of LTO-6 tape cartridges is faster than that of the prior
generation.

The
upward trend in shipments comes as more storage managers, content developers and
information technology professionals turn to LTO technology for a safe, reliable
and cost-effective storage solution amid the growing amount of data and content
that is being generated in the digital era.

The required digital storage capacity
used in the entertainment industry alone is expected to increase by more than
500% by 2018.

Big data is affecting every organization, regardless of size. However, its
impact is even greater in such industries as healthcare, energy exploration and
broadcast productions. The massive data volumes generated, shared and stored in
industries like these require even greater reliability, security, and
accessibility. The LTO Program has been on the forefront of providing technology
that offers a cost effective method for protecting, archiving and easily
retrieving large amounts of data to help organizations mitigate risk, enhance
resiliency, and improve productivity.

LTO technology also
continues to lead the tape storage industry as it surpasses new milestones.
According to a recent study, more than 4.4
million LTO drives have been shipped since the beginning of the program
(through year-end 2012).

Another milestone was reached as the
225 millionth LTO cartridge
was shipped. The aggregate capacity of these cartridges represents the potential
of more than 90,000PB
of data protected and retained using LTO technology.

Despite the increased uptake in the
newest generation of LTO tape, the previous LTO-5, introduced three years ago,
remains popular as drive shipments maintained double-digit growth over the prior
year.

LTO
technology continues to be, by far, the strongest performer in the tape
industry. With the recent introduction of LTO-6 technology, we anticipate this
trend to continue.

LTO-6 products have been available since fourth quarter
last year and support a tape cartridge storage capacity of up to 6.25TB -
assuming a 2.5:1 compression achieved with larger compression history buffer
available beginning with LTO generation 6 drives - which is more than twice the
compressed capacity over the previous generation. LTO-6 drives and tapes also
feature data transfer rates of up to 400MB/s with compression, translating to
more than 1.4TB of compressed data per hour. As with previous generations, LTO-6
drives provide backward compatibility with the ability to read and write LTO
Generation 5 cartridges and read LTO-4 cartridges.

In addition, the LTO-6 format includes a
partitioning functionality, first introduced in LTO-5 technology, enabling users
to present a tape-based file system with the use of the LTFS. With continued
support for hardware-based encryption and WORM functionality, LTO Ultrium
Generation 6 tape technology is designed to provide a balance of performance,
capacity, compatibility and cost control and to support a range of safe, secure
and portable storage options for backup and archive.

While new applications for the use of
data continue to be introduced at a rapid pace, LTO technology is the one
constant when it comes to a cost-effective, reliable and compatible solution to
retain and protect this data.